Watch Dogs Legion

Watch Dogs: Legion is a 2020 open-world action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It’s the third main entry in the Watch Dogs series and stands out for its unique approach to playable characters and narrative structure.

Setting & Premise

Watch Dogs: Legion takes place in a near-future, dystopian London, where society is tightly controlled by surveillance systems and oppressive private security forces after a series of catastrophic events. The hacker group DedSec is framed for terrorist acts and must work to clear its name while liberating the city from authoritarian control.

Play-As-Anyone System

The biggest innovation in Legion is the “Play as Anyone” mechanic: every non-player character (NPC) you encounter in the city can be recruited into DedSec and played as a fully controllable character. Each recruit has unique traits, backgrounds, and potential skills you can use strategically during missions. This system lets you assemble a diverse team of operatives — from a combat-hardened agent to an everyday citizen — and switch between them at will.

This replaces the traditional single-hero protagonist found in earlier Watch Dogs games, making DedSec a collective rather than one individual.
If enabled, the game even offers permadeath options where characters you recruit can be lost permanently, adding weight to decisions.

Gameplay & Features

Open World: Explore a rich, near-future London with iconic landmarks and varied districts.
Hacking & Combat: Like other games in the series, you can hack city technology — drones, cameras, vehicles — to gain tactical advantages in missions and free roaming.
Mission Variety: Objectives range from stealthy infiltrations and sabotage to full-on assaults, with multiple ways to approach each situation based on your recruits’ skills.
Online Mode: In 2021 Ubisoft added a cooperative online mode where players can join friends for missions, races, and other activities in London.

Reception

Watch Dogs: Legion received mixed reviews upon release. Critics and players praised its ambition and the innovation of the Play-As-Anyone system but noted issues with character depth, repetition, and some gameplay mechanics.

Platforms & Release

The game launched on 29 October 2020 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, and Stadia, followed by versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S shortly after.

Additional Content

An expansion titled Bloodline was released later, bringing back established characters from past Watch Dogs titles for new missions and storylines within the London setting.